Mattock

Mattock. Isa 7:25. The tool used in Arabia for loosening the ground, described by Neibuhr, answers generally to our mattock or grubbing-axe, that is, a single-headed pickaxe. The ancient Egyptian hoe was of wood, and answered for hoe, spade and pick.

Isa 7:25. A single headed pickax or hoe, for loosening the ground.

1. chereb, probably sword or tool. 2Ch 34:6; the margin reads ’mauls,’

2. machareshah, ploughshare, coulter. 1Sa 13:20-21.

3. mader, probably a hoe or spade. Isa 7:25.

MATTOCK.—The mattock of Isa 7:25 is rather the hoe with which land inaccessible to the plough was hoed—noun and verb being the same here, cf. Isa 5:6 RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘hoed’ for AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘digged.’ For descriptions and illustrations of the triangular hoe and the mattock, or pick, of modern Palestine, see PEFSt [Note: Quarterly Statement of the same.] , 1901, p. 110 f., and Hastings’ DB [Note: Dictionary of the Bible.] iii. 306. The passage 1Sa 13:20 f. is very corrupt, and in 1Sa 13:20 at least’ mattock’ should probably be ‘goad.’ The same applies to 2Ch 34:6, where AVm [Note: Authorized Version margin.] suggests ‘mauls,’ and RV [Note: Revised Version.] has ‘ruins.’

A. R. S. Kennedy.

mat´ok: The translation of 3 Hebrew words: (1) מחרשה, maḥărēshāh, probably “a pick-axe” (1Sa 13:20, 1Sa 13:21; compare 1Sa 13:21 margin); (2) חרב, ḥerebh, “sword,” “ax,” “tool” (2Ch 34:6 the King James Version, “with their mattocks,” the King James Version margin “mauls,” the Revised Version (British and American) “in their ruins,” the Revised Version margin “with their axes”); (3) מעדּר, ma‛dēr, “a hoe,” “rake,” “chopping instrument” (Isa 7:25). Vines were usually grown on terraces on the hills of Palestine, and then the mattock was in constant use. The usual mattock is a pick with one end broad, the other pointed.